Friday, December 15, 2006
On Exorbitant Fees
My dream of having my siblings to study in UP is slowly being bedraggled. I am somehow chap fallen on the UP administration's (specifically the Board of Regents) decision to increase the tuition fees of up to 300%. That makes the current 6,000 peso enrollment fee rise to a whooping 20,000 per semester.At first I was not that concerned at the issue because i believed that there will be a bargaining agreement and the raise would just go up to 500 per unit. I never realized that the administration's mind can be that somber. After passing the resolution, hundreds of students marched to the Quezon Hall to protest, I am one of them.
Yes I believe that the tuition fee of UP needs an update based on the economic status of the country. However, conducting a reality check, let us ponder on the things like the minimum wage and the percentage of poor in the Philippines. In the new scheme as I interpret it, the UP will have to admit a lot rich students displacing the poor ones to be able to earn money which will subsidize only a pinch of the poor. Is it not that the government is primary responsible for the subsidy of a state university? Yet the assistance scheme is not effective as history tells us: STFAP is a big failure. I have personally seen this implosion as my friends who belong to the "class D and E" are being categorized in the lower brackets. They seem to survive because of their manual labour in fast food chains and department stores.
The University needs an update on its fees but not that enormous! I need to work harder now as my younger brother will go to college next year.
link | posted by qiqo at 7:18 AM
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